11/18/2009, Neiafu, Vava'u Island, Tonga
... so... when I got back to the boat last week after my little 'solo sojourn' in Auckland, I asked the guys "What did you do while I was away?" and the response from Peter was "We worked on the boat the WHOLE week!" Well, they may have worked on the boat MOST of the week, and it was obvious that they DID get a HUGE list of maintenance and new work items completed in my absence, but I know that at least part of ONE day was spent having fun... you see, I think Peter forgot that he emailed this little tidbit to me while I was in New Zealand: pure unaltered photographic evidence! A 37kg yellowfin tuna, an 11kg mahi mahi and three giant grins! Our friends Chris and Nora own Vava'u Island Express, a local tour/charter/boat rental company in Neiafu, and it would appear that Chris tore himself away from work one day so he could take the guys fishing in one of their boats. Oh, the things we do for the sake of friendship! I'm sure Chris' arm had to be twisted and twisted... hahahahaha.
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11/03/2009, Neiafu, Vava'u Island, Tonga
It's hard to believe that we've been in Tonga for more than 2 months already. The weeks have melted away to a blur, our time sometimes passed in a flurry of ever-present fix-it, install-it or clean-it jobs on the boat, and sometimes the hours are whiled away doing nothing more than reading and lazing about. With the calendar turning to November, the time has finally come to start to count down the days until we take our leave. Of course, we're only departing on schedule in mid-November if the 2 new engines purchased from a company in New Zealand arrive this week and the guys are able to clear them through Customs without too much hassle and then install them and ensure they're in proper working order. This onerous task I am happily leaving to Peter and Don, as I am flying to Auckland tomorrow to spend a week with an old childhood friend whom I have not seen in more than 22 years, and to get a taste of Sub-urban Living Kiwi-style! I have to admit that after being at sea for more than 8 months I am utterly giddy at the prospect of being immersed in the noise, concrete and lights of the city, and I am going to seek out and devour a skim-milk latte and a worldly English-print newspaper as soon as humanly possible upon my arrival! I'm really excited to catch up with my old friend and I'm hoping that I'll be able to go sight-seeing, visit a few museums and galleries, and of course, I MUST go shopping! After all, it would be a moral offense to urban women everywhere to NOT at least go window shopping in such a fabulous city! Wink, wink.
At the moment however, I am happily padding around the boat in a pair of ratty old bargain-shop shorts and a rust-stained tank top that looks more like a rag than a piece of clothing, my hair yanked into an unflattering (though thoroughly practical) ponytail on top of my head. I must say that (much to my own surprise) I've adjusted nicely to not wearing make-up unless absolutely necessary, and much of the time I couldn't care less about what people think I look like... but in preparing for my 'Return to Urban Life' trip I'm going to dig out my make-up kit and the few items of clothing I have stuffed in the back of the cupboard that are still deemed 'clean' and 'worthy' of wearing in public. My biggest worry is that I don't have any cold-weather clothing with me, and it's still pretty cool and rainy in Auckland: only around 10 to 15C! I guess I'll have to 'tough it out' with my one pair of jeans, a pair of flimsy capri pants, two sweaters, a handful of t-shirts and a pair of sneakers. Poor girl... ;) I'll let you know how it goes... though I'm sure I'll "survive". Keep your fingers crossed.
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10/28/2009, Neiafu, Vava'u Island, Tonga
It's been more than 2 weeks since my last post. I guess I've been busy having fun snorkeling and eating. Sorry to rub it in... well, I'm not really THAT sorry. ;) The weather has been very pleasant and warm. Not too much rain, and we've had a nice breeze most evenings, so it's not too hot to sleep. In fact, we've all been using sheets AND warm blankets for the past several weeks. We're heading back out into the islands later today, so we can enjoy another week away from the hussle and bussle of the village. hahaha. I'll update when we return...
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10/12/2009, Neiafu Village, Vava'u Island, Tonga
As you all know, 2 weeks ago an earthquake deep in the seabed of the South Pacific triggered a tsunami that devastated many communities across American Samoa, Western Samoa and the northern islands of Tonga. Although we suffered no personal damage we realized that the quake and tsunami may be bigger news than we originally anticipated, so last week we decided to return to the main island of Vava'u in northern Tonga from our 'vacation' in the outer islands so we could make a few critical contacts and advise that we made it through the surges. We didn't have any internet access while we were in the outer islands, so we weren't sure how much info the outside world had, and similarly, we weren't sure of the extent of damage in the nearby Tongan islands and in the Samoas. We have since found out that our friends in Western Samoa are safe and suffered no boat damage. Sadly however, in American Samoa, a fellow sailor's boat washed ashore and appears to be destroyed, and yet another cruiser lost his life while trying to escape the waves. We are still waiting to hear from or about other cruisers who were in Pago Pago. Needless to say, the old saying 'no news is good news' does not apply in this case. The one good thing coming out of this tragedy is that the whole community has come together to support the survivors. Last week a group of local expats, business owners and sailors here in Vava'u sent a small charter plane containing food, clothing and medical supplies to the island of Niuataputopu in the northernmost area of Tonga. On that tiny island alone 57 houses were completely destroyed, several others and some public buildings suffered major damage, and most importantly 9 lives were lost.
I feel guilty writing about our experience knowing how lucky we are, but I've been asked what it was like. We were at anchor in about 12 feet of water on a shallow sandbar off Ovalau Island in the southern area of Vava'u when the quake and tsunami hit on Tuesday morning (local time). I was asleep when the boat started to shake and shudder and move around in a jerking motion. The motion was very unusual and I immediately knew that something wasn't 'normal' about the way the boat was moving around, so I ran up on deck to see what was going on. As soon as I looked toward the shoreline and surrounding reef, I could see the tide receding VERY quickly from the shore. It was a strange sight, but there was nothing exceedingly violent about the movement of the water. It wasn't smashing or crashing. In fact,it was more like a rippling/sucking movement that 'vaccuumed' the water out to sea. It was like the tide was receding in a high-speed motion, pulling the water back along the rocks and sand; it looked like a super-fast tidal bore, and the tide receded around 5 or 6 feet in less than a minute. I didn't know what was going on, but I certainly didn't suspect a tsunami. In my half-asleep daze, I thought that maybe this was a 'normal' thing to happen there at the shallow sandbar when the tide changed, since just to the north of the sandbar the water drops off very abruptly to almost 200 feet deep. I wasn't thinking clearly, so at that moment my mind was trying to justify what my eyes were seeing. The boat started to swing around on the anchor chain and we were caught in a torrent of moving water, bobbing around and swinging back and forth on the chain until the water stopped moving away from the island. After a few minutes the water stopped rushing for a moment, and then it started coming back in, but it was rising very, very quickly! We started to swing around on the chain again, and we were gently swung back toward the island as the 'tide' rushed in. We ended up doing a complete circle around the anchor during that first cycle of water receding and rising. The water then receded a second time and then came back in again, so we saw the water drop and rise dramatically twice within only a few minutes, and we did a circle around the anchor with each cycle of water. It was a bit like being on a kiddie-ride at the fair, except that we were riding on a 16000 pound fibreglas boat on a 200 foot long steel chain. All the while, we had no idea what was really going on. I just stared at the water, filmed a bit of what was happening and made sleepy and naive comments into the camera's microphone. By now, it was 8:30am, and it was time for the regular check-in that happens each morning for all the local boaters, so we turned on the VHF radio to see if anyone in the area knew what was going on. The radio controller advised us that there had been a major earthquake 255 nautical miles NE of us, so what we were experiencing was a tsunami, albeit a small one here in the Vava'u islands. We had no idea it had been so devastating elsewhere. Several other sailboats reported events similar to ours, and we checked in to confirm our status. After the first few major cycles, the water continued to rise and fall slightly, but with each cycle, the water level would change less and less, until eventually the water looked normal again. We were very lucky that we were here in Tonga. There are many islands in this area, so the waves were probably dissipated amongst the reefs and sandbars before they reached us. There was some damage here in the islands, but it was minimal. We've experienced dozens of aftershocks since the original earthquake, and on the way back to the main island last Friday afternoon we felt a big one. The boat shuddered as if a giant hand had grabbed it from below and shook it. It was a very strange sensation. There is still a lot of vegetation floating in the water, and we've had to be careful to avoid hitting branches and coconuts with the propellers. Last week we went back out into the islands, and we came back into the village again yesterday so we could restock our food and check our email. Right now, we are safely on a mooring in the main village of Neiafu, but this afternoon we're going back out to the outer islands to enjoy the sights again for a while. Hopefully we won't have any more tsunami-type excitement during the rest of the trip! I'd rather just stick to sharks and stingrays. They're safer.
ps. I'll try to link a video that I put together (of the tsunami) to this blog later in the week. The connection is too slow to try to add it today.
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Our little superstar Edie. We always thought she was a bit "touched", but I guess she's proven us wrong... all wrong! Take a look at this!
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10/03/2009, Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga
A blog entry dedicated to Trina, Laura, Leah, Karen and Nichole:
Hey Girls!!! Sorry I'm missing GIRLS' NIGHT... again! I hope you're all having a great time! I know you are. ;)
Please think of me as you're all cozied up in Trina's big plush sofas in your flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers, stuffing your faces with fattening sugar-filled diva-snacks and sipping shiraz (or God forbid - herbal tea). I think a comment about the noise level due to several simultaneous conversations is probably unnecessary, but I'll tease you about it anyway. After all, if I were there with you I'd be one of the biggest culprits! ;)
I'm truly sorry to miss the book exchange this time, as I'd actually have something to trade for once!!! I finally finished Edward Rutherford's Sarum, although it took me almost 2 months to plow through it. It was... ah... long... and highly-detailed. It must have taken the man a decade to write it! I've burned through some short and witty books on this trip, however I've recently returned to the world of long books. I'm about a third of the way through The Pillars of the Earth. I know, I know, I know, I was supposed to read it about 3 years ago when it was first recommended to me, but at least I'm finally reading it! I can only imagine what antics you'll get up to tonight!!! Please fill me in when the dust has cleared and you've all returned to your normal lives. I don't expect you to post anything here to the blog, as I'm sure it won't be fit for public consumption! Well... I should say I HOPE it won't be fit for public consumption!!! GRIN.
In Sistahood,
Mo
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Hope everyone is well and the new engines are now installed. Any more stories about cats going swimming? I can't believe that the cats have been in the water and survived.
Do you know what plans you have about "home" in February of 2010?
Love to everybody,
Ken
